Trump news: President fails to propose gun law change after mass shootings, as Obama warns leaders are feeding 'climate of fear'
Two mass shootings left nearly 30 victims dead over the weekend
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Donald Trump referred to the shooting suspects in the El Paso and Dayton gun massacres as “mentally ill monsters”, before naming the wrong US city in Ohio.
The president blamed everything from the press to violent video games while addressing the nation after two gun attacks left nearly 30 victims dead over the weekend.
During the controversial speech on Monday, he called on the US to reject “racism” and “white supremacy,” while failing to address his own incendiary remarks launched against immigrants and his apparent opponents of colour, including Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Elijah Cummings.
Former president Barack Obama denounced the divisive language coming from “American leaders” in a statement posted to his Twitter account. In his first response to the Texas and Ohio shootings, Mr Obama says Americans must “soundly reject language” from any leader who “feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments.”
A shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday killed 22 people, and a second attack outside a bar in Dayton, Ohio, early Sunday killed nine people. Investigators say the suspect in the El Paso massacre posted a racist, anti-immigrant message shortly before the attack.
The statement made by Barack Obama said: “Until all of us stand up and insist on holding public officials accountable for changing our gun laws, these tragedies will keep happening.”
In his address to the nation, Donald Trump said America “must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” adding that the FBI would investigate “hate crimes and domestic terrorism.”
Pressure is meanwhile mounting on Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to recall the upper chamber of Congress from its summer recess to finally vote on a universal background checks bill that was passed by the House of Representatives in February.
US stocks plunged to their worst loss of the year Monday, as investors’ fears over Donald Trump’s trade war impact the market.
Catch-up on events as they happened
House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler said his committee could move to begin launching articles of impeachment against Donald Trump by the end of the year in a new interview.
“If we decide to report articles of impeachment, we could get it in the late fall, later part of the year,” he said in an interview with MSNBC on Monday.
The Democrat also said “we can’t let the election calendar dictate” the committee’s willingness to impeach the president.
Here's my story on Donald Trump's latest speech addressing the country after the string of nationwide mass shootings:
Donald Trump has been slammed for showing a "diminished ... mental capacity" after the president mistakenly referred to "Toledo" as the location of this weekend's Ohio mass shooting, which actually took place in Dayton.
Mr Trump's slip-up occurred on Monday morning during remarks from the White House in which he called on the United States to condemn "racism, bigotry and white supremacy" following two mass shootings that occurred over the weekend within a 13 hour span. At least nine people were killed in the shooting in Dayton, while at least 21 were killed in an earlier shooting in El Paso, Texas.
"May God bless the memory of those who perished in Toledo, may God protect them. May God protect all of those from Texas to Ohio. May God bless the victims and their families," Mr Trump said.
Two mass shootings just hours apart have shocked America and renewed calls for stricter gun control in the United States.
Thirty-two people were killed and dozens left injured in the attacks over the weekend, with 22 deaths at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and ten at a bar in Dayton, Ohio.
The attack in El Paso was the 250th mass shooting in the US this year and more than 280 people have been killed in such shootings in 2019 so far.
The president is continuing to face a wave of criticism for calling the city of Dayton, Ohio "Toledo" after it was the site of yet another American mass shooting -
Here's my story on Donald Trump's 'superfan' getting 20 years behind bars for mailing pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and CNN:
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